Published 03-18-11
Submitted by Business in the Community
Business in the Community (BITC), in partnership with Insight Exchange, today launches a new guide combining consumer insight and marketing experience from six major UK and global companies, conversations with 50 marketers and an extensive review of existing work in this area.
The guide will be launched at BITC's Responsible Business Convention, where companies will be considering the new business models they will need to adopt to prepare for future challenges and embrace new global opportunities.
Through practical advice and case studies, the guide describes the business case for influencing consumers to be sustainable and how companies can identify their own 'Area of Opportunity' - the space in which consumer priorities, business action and brand values are aligned.
The guide includes case studies on: B&Q, Kraft Foods, EDF Energy, Marks and Spencer, Unilever and Waitrose. Each has contributed to the research by sharing their consumer insights with BITC and Insight Exchange.
Jo Daniels, Marketplace Director, BITC said: "Influencing consumers to be more sustainable is a necessary step to ensure that we all move towards a sustainable future. Businesses have the opportunity to lead consumers and play a critical role in creating mass behaviour change. This guide was developed to help businesses develop their approach and accelerate the pace of change."
Sarah Fuller, Head of Marketing Communications, Waitrose said: "Waitrose is pleased to have been one of leading brands to have contributed to this important piece of research. Our approach to engage consumers on sustainability is to do the hard work for them, and then make their involvement easy and approachable."
Gavin Neath, Senior VP Sustainability, Unilever said: "Unilever has a massive reach - our brands are used two billion times a day globally; we also know that 67 percent of the greenhouse gas impacts of our products are created through consumer use. Influencing consumers to use our products more sustainably is therefore of paramount importance for Unilever."
The guide will be launched at a reception hosted by the Marketing Society at BITC's Responsible Business Convention. The Marketing Society are working with BITC on a number of initiatives - One Day and the sustainability charity Start - as an ongoing commitment to show how marketers can help create a sustainable future.
To get a copy of the guide please visit our website: www.bitc.org.uk/marketplace/index (the report will be available from 17 March) or contact Vicky Gashe for a PDF copy.
If you would like to attend the reception hosted by the Marketing Society to launch the guide please contact Vicky.
The guide was produced in partnership with Insight Exchange and RKCR/Y&R
Business in the Community stands for responsible business.
We are a business-led charity with a growing membership of 850 companies, from large multinational household names to small local businesses and public sector organisations.
We advise, support and challenge our members to create a sustainable future for society and to improve business performance.
Our members work with us to define what responsibility looks like in the workplace, marketplace, community and the environment - and we share what we learn about driving performance through responsible business practice.